Refugee teachers as co-researchers: a multi-stakeholder approach to knowledge mobilisation

• In Event: Realising the triple nexus approach: engaging teachers and other stakeholders in education and emergencies research

Proposal

In an era of unprecedented global displacement, the humanitarian sector faces a crippling funding crisis (Mishra, 2025), while governments are reducing education spending (Bennell, 2024) and deprioritising refugee support (ISS, 2025) in face of competing priorities. Against this backdrop, refugee teachers face exclusion from host country education systems, financial instability, and inevitable damage to their sense of wellbeing and agency. This paper explores a current study that is seeking to build the evidence base for how to improve refugee teacher inclusion pathways. Operating in Chad, Uganda and Zambia, the study works on the premise that refugee teachers’ formal inclusion into national education systems is a powerful, cost-effective catalyst for activating the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus.

Funded by [anonymised organisation], and led by [anonymised organisation] in partnership with [anonymised organisations] as part of the [anonymised initiative], the project explores and seeks to strengthen pathways for the national integration of refugee teachers, while also exploring how this can be done in a way that enhances teacher agency and wellbeing.

Central to this work is a research approach that involves training refugee teachers as co-researchers (or ‘peer researchers’); from co-designing research questions to analysing data and formulating policy recommendations, their lived experience is the driving force. Through rigorous training, the project equips peer researchers with the tools to simultaneously conduct research on refugee teacher inclusion within their communities, enhance their teaching practice using research approaches, and amplify the voices of those at the forefront of educational continuity in displacement settings. The research also places knowledge mobilisation with stakeholders at all levels at its centre. This is done through mechanisms such as national, regional and global-level advisory groups to bring these peer researchers into direct contact with other education actors and decision-makers including ministry representatives, implementers from NGOs and UN agency staff.

[Organisation]’s presentation within this panel highlights the diverse ways in which all stakeholders, from refugee teachers to global education stakeholders, have been engaged to mobilise knowledge on refugee teacher inclusion, thereby activating the core aspect of collaborative action within of the triple nexus approach and creating conditions for increased harmony in displacement contexts.

Author

• Katrina Barnes, Jigsaw